Titi’s Children Were Removed and Placed in Foster Care. This is Her Story.

This beautiful woman's story will help you understand what it's like to be on the "other side" of foster care.

Meghan Rivard
February 10, 2016

Overcoming obstacles. Following your dreams. Turning your life around. These are just some of the attributes that this video depicts. It is a wonderful video in which Titi shares part of her life story. She discusses her childhood and learning her “mama” was her grandmother because her mother had passed away. She discusses that she was molested more than once when she was a child. She spoke up and nothing happened.

So to deal with her emotions, she turned to drugs, selling herself and looking for love in the wrong places. She had her first child when she was 16 years old. She went to prison for 10 years.

Many of us can relate to this. Things in life get to be more than we can handle. We don’t know who to turn to or don’t have anyone to turn to. We haven’t dealt with something that occurred in our past. How do you look at obstacles that occurred in your past? How did you handle them or learn from them? If you are a foster parent, your foster child may have experienced past trauma, so you will need to be aware or cognitive of this, and to watch for any warning signs that may arise.

Titi explains that resilience was continually needed. Her marriage abruptly ended and she relapsed on drugs. She was diagnosed with a mental condition at an early age but never got it treated. She lost her children five times to CPS.

But out of obstacles comes opportunity. And this is what occurred in this video/story. She found a local NA program and decided to change her life around. Now, Titi is a now a full-time college student, entrepreneur, and author. You can find more about her, her book, and her efforts to advocate for families at Remembertothinkpink.org. Her goal “is to help others who suffer silently with mental illness, drugs, or trauma, especially if it prevents them from parenting their children”.

Titi states that the best thing she has been told is “you don’t look like what you have been through.” She turned to Christ, and said that her strength comes from Him. She got up again and again and rose above every obstacle that she encountered.

It is important to remember this point of view in foster care that you don’t know anyone’s true whole story, or what they have been through. Parents of children in foster care often work very hard to get back on their feet. They have goals for their lives. That everyone needs help at one point or another in their life.

Meghan Rivard

Meghan is an adoptive mother and a big advocate of adoption and foster care. She resides in Indiana with her husband, their one-year-old daughter who is the center of their lives, and their dog Max. She has a Bachelor's and Masterâs Degree in Social Work. Meghan stays at home with her daughter but is so happy she found this outlet to share her personal adoption story and educate about adoption!

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